Sheet feeding devices of the reciprocating tooth type



y 22, 1953 'r. ROWLANDS ETAL 2,844,371

SHEET FEEDING DEVICES OF THE RECIPROCATING TOOTH TYPE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 2, 1955 w 6 M m. m M N N R wfm M ma v i July 22, 1958 IT. ROWLANDS ET AL 2,844,371

' SHEET FEEDING DEVICES OF THE RECIPROCATING TOOTH TYPE Filed ma 2, 1955 4 Sheefs-Sheet 2 FiglA.

45% 501 M4 //vv NTORS ATTORNE 5 July 22, 1958 T. ROWLANDS ETAL SHEET FEEDING DEVICES OF THE RECIPROCATING TOOTH TYPE- Filed May 2, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS July 22, 1958 ROWLANDS ETAL 2,844,371

SHEET FEEDING DEVICES OF THE RECIPROCATING TOOTH TYPE Filed May 2, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 /NVENT RS N Ell/ 77074439 '13 BY United States Pa e a 2,844,371. SHEET FEEDING DEVICES OF THE RECIPRO v CATING'TOQTH i Tom Rowlands Henry fiamesHubbard, Deptford,

London, England, assignors to Molins Machine Company, Limited, fDeptford, London, England, a British company i Application May 2, 1955, Serial No. 505,498 Claims priority, application Great Britain May 4, 1954- 1- Claim. 01. 271-44 Brackets 2 fixed to said part support a cross-bar 3 to" which is fixeda front'gate 4 of a magazine 5, clamps 6 on the bar 3 support by means of rods 7, side guides or fences 8 to locate the boards in position within the magazine 5. A feed'table marked by the general reference 9 consists of two pairs of bars 9A and 9B respectively fixed together and at its rear end there are adjustably fitted rear guides or fences 10. These are fixed by leveroperated clamps 11 which engage slots in the bars 9B.

It will be understoodthat where the size of the boards needs it, the front gate 4 and fences 8 and 10 will be multipled e. g. duplicated. 7

Each rear fence It) has a ledge 12 which lies beneath therear end of the pile of boards B, such a ledge being a usual feature in these feeds where it usually serves to support the pile, but in the present case the ledge is" of a new kind and has a different function. It is pivoted otherwise a board is liable to be fed only part of'the way I before it slips overthetooth. It is not easy to employ such a feed tooth WithknoWnfeeding devices. Further, where boards of any considerable length are being fed, the pusher stroke is necessarily long and even near the beginning ofa stroke the speed is fairly high and the impact of the tooth as it moves into contact may injure a board, for'exampleyapiece of corrugated board] According to the present 'inventionjthere is provided a reciprocating tooth 'feed'comprisi'ng'a main'pusher I adapted tomove 'a board out of a magazine in which boards are' piled andan auxiliary pusher which engages the board before the main pusher and moves its rear edge off a support in the magazine so that the rear end of the board drops away from the pile, whereafter the main pusher engages the board and a lip or hook on the .main pusher overlies the upper surface of the board.

The support for the boards may be the upper surface "of the auxiliary pusher.

The auxiliary pusher, which only requires a very short stroke, may be operated by a cam lever linked to the pusher. Means may be provided to prevent a board moved by the auxiliary pusher from being drawn back on the return stroke of said pusher. The main pusher may be operated in any convenient way and in a cutting and creasing machine of the kind referred to in U. S. Patent 2,737,238, issued May 6, 1956, for which the present invention is very suitable, it may be attached to the grill. 7

Means may be provided at the front of the magazine to control the corners of a board to ensure that boards having curled or distorted corners pass easily out of the magazine. Such means may comprise fixed guides at the sides of the magazine and sloping downwards towards the level of the magazine base and defining an outlet substantially equal to board thickness.

The invention will be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of a board feeding device constructed according to the invention;

Figure 1A is a fragment of Figure 1 showing a pusher in a slightly different position;

Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side view of one kind of pusher;

Figure 4 is a side view of another kind of pusher partly in section;

Figure 5 is a view of the right-hand end of Figure 1. p The feed illustrated is shown as fitted to a cutting and creasing machine of the kind described in the specification referred to, part of said machine being marked 1.

at 13 and lightly pressed-upwards towards a stop surface 14 by a spring 15. Although the boards are shown in Figure 1 touching the top of the ledge 12 they are actually supported by other means as will appear later. If then the board B1, Figure 1A, contacting the ledges 12 is pushed alonga little way it will depress the ledges and finally its 'rear' 'e'nd*w ill drop down in front of the arcuate ends of the ledges and the latter will then spring up to touch the next board.

Such a movement is given to the board B1 by an auxiliary pusher device, or first pusher. This device is an ordinary reciprocating tooth pusher and, as shown, comprises a pa'i'rof pusher'members 16 which are alike. The member's16 are fixed to a cross piece 17 which can be screwed "to a link 18 in various positions, according to board length. The link has numerous holes 19 for this a purpose. Beneath the cross piece 17 is a bar 20, Figure 5, having sliders 21 at its ends which run in grooves in guide bars 22 fixed to supports 50 which carry the bars 9A. Similar supports 51 carry the bars 9B. The upper faces of the pushers 16 actually support the pile of boards in the magazine, and these faces are marked 27. As 1 seen in Figure 1A the board pile is resting on the face 27 of the pusher member 16 shown in that figure, the board B1 being the lowest. This is the condition when boards are first stacked in the magazine. The pusher device is reciprocated by a cam 23, Figure 1, having a lever 24 which is pivoted at 25 and connected to the pusher link 18 at 26.

In operation each pusher 16 first moves back a little from the position shown in Figure 1A until its edge 28 is about behind the front faces of the back fences 10 as shown in Figure 1. The pile of boards then falls from the Figure 1A position and the lowest board now rests on surfaces of each pusher which are marked 29 and in position to be engaged by the feed tooth of each pusher, which extends from surface 27 to the surface 29, as the pusher device moves forwards. This board is therefore marked B1 in Figure 1 and is about to be driven forwards by the feed tooth. The stroke is sufficient to move the board so that it can fall in front of the ledges 12 as the pusher device goes back again. The board B1 then reaches the position B2. In this way the board is fed a short distance from its former position in the magazine and the front corners are passed beneath guide members 30 which slope as shown and effectively control even boards with badly bent corners. The guide members 30 are fixed to bars 31 which can be adjusted along the cross bar 3 and clamped thereto. As the stroke of the pusher device is small, the speed at which a board is first engaged and forced through the magazine outlet is lower than in known constructions. The front gate 4 is a spring loaded front gate of known kind and has a tooth or gauge 32 which can be adjusted up Patented July 22, 1958 3 and down by a screw 33. Co-operating with the tooth 32 is a table inset 34 fixed to the bars 9A.

After the movement just described the board lies in the position marked B2 with its front corners smoothed down by the guides 30 and its rear edge trapped by the arcuate faces of the ledges 12 which spring'up to the position shown and the arcuate faces will therefore prevent the fed board from being accidentally drawn back by the retreating pusher device. Because the sheet is thus confined there will be space at the place marked 35 even with curly boards. The board B2 is shown curled somewhat to show this point. The board so fed is now engaged by a main pusher. This comprises two pivoted members 36', Figure 4, each of which is pressed upwards by a spring 37 to a position determined by a stop 38. The forward end of each member 36, has a support ledge 39 and a hook or lip 40 above a face 41 which lip can overhang a board during feeding. The face 41 constitutes the pusher tooth. The space 35 referred to above ensures that the hook 40 can go over the partly fed board and a fragment of a member 36 is shown in Figure l to illustrate this. Thus the board is securely held in engagement with the main pusher even when the board has left the magazine and is travelling beneath the form in the machine referred to, at which time it is moving very quickly. The members 36 are each pivoted to a bracket 42 adjustably fixed on a V bar 43 attached to a carriage 44 slidablein grooves 45, Figure 5, formed in opposed edges of the bars 9A and 9B. The V bars 43 are fixed at 46 to a part marked 47 which is a cross bar of the grill of the machine referred to. Naturally the V bars can be operated by any similarly moving part in other types of machine.

As the board travels out of the magazine its middle is controlled by a pivoted member 48, Figure 1, which presses by gravity on the board.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

Board feeding apparatus comprising a magazine in which boards are piled, a reciprocable main pusher having a tooth face adapted to move the lowest board out of the magazine, an auxiliary reciprocating pusher having a tooth face arranged'first to engage said board and move it into a position where it can be engaged by the main pusher, said auxiliary pusher being located at the commencement of a board feeding operation in such position as to support the pile of boards on its upper surface and having a supplementary board support fixed to it ahead of the tooth face thereof, and at a lower level than that of said upper surface, pivoted ledges the upper faces whereof are spring-urged into contact with the lower face of the pile and over which a fed board passes, whereupon the ledges spring up into contact with the next board of thepile, said ledges having surfaces extending downward from their upper faces to provide stops preventing retraction of a fed board, means to operate the auxiliary pusher to move it backward from the aforesaid pile supporting position to permit the lowest board to drop onto the supplementary support, said means thereafter moving the auxiliary pusher forward so that its tooth face engages saidboard and pushes it forward beyond the upper faces of the pivoted ledges, and means for operating the main pusher to thereupon engage the fed board and move it out of the magazine,

said main pusher having a lip above its tooth face to overlie the upper surface of the board.

References Cited in the file of'this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

